Fragile Lives
by inumaru13
Summary: Sequel to Jacklyne Sparrow. Will gave his life to save break Jack's curse. That was the deal. The only question now is whether or not the deal has been fulfilled. That's the suprise that haunts Jack aboard the Pearl as he searches for the answer. JackWill
1. Revelations

_Red flashed before his vision as the crack of a whip was heard as it curled around his rib. Forcing down another scream as it was whipped away; it left his lips bruised beyond measure. The same routine again and again so many times now that he had lost count. Another crack, another flash of red, another scream forced down. Blood now oozed freely to the floor now gathering together in red, slimy pools that looked black due to the slimy floor beneath it. His arms sagged, his legs gave out long ago but still the blows came thick and hard. How long had he been like this? How long had this pain that should have killed him long ago left him barely alive to feel its extent? His muscles tensed once more waiting for the next blow. When one didn't come he blinked in confusion. A sword came in an arc above him cutting the bonds that chained his arms as his body collapsed in a heap, curling up into a ball from the hours of agony however in his mind he was relieved. The relief didn't last long though as he was wrestled onto his back, hissing with pain as the floor came into contact with the many fresh wounds, as his limbs were pinned down by four of his captors. A shadow loomed over him with malicious intent written all over it's cold, cruel eyes. _

_"Do you fear death?" it hissed at him, toying with something behind its back. _

_"Never," he hissed back, eyes narrowing in defiance. _

_The shadow laughed and proceeded to turn away then without warning whirled back and shoved something right smack dab over his chest, on the spot of his heart. He didn't care what it was, though he was pretty sure it was a branding iron for at that moment, excruciating pain shot throughout his entire body. Wave after wave of it hit and hard as his entire vision began to haze away. His entire body was now racked with tremors as the thing drove deeper and deeper into his chest, the smell of burning flesh becoming intoxicating. The shadow simply smirked then suddenly ripped it away from the raw skin and pressed down with his hand and ground a handful of white power right into the wound. That was it. Red and black flooded his vision as the scream that had been shoved down so long ripped its way from his throat at full force, robbing him of his breath as his eyes pressed shut and two tears ran from them. He could feel all his tormentors laughing now but he didn't care. With every pulse of his heart he came closer and closer to the dark abyss that was subconscious. _

B-bmp—Black

B-bmp—Black

B-bmp—Black

_He felt his eyes roll back inside of his head as his battered body gave up the fight. Finally, he slipped into the serene blackness._

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"WILL!!" kohl rimmed eyes shot open followed by a hiss as a beam of sunlight hit them causing them to once again shut tight. Captain Jack Sparrow groaned as he rolled onto his side only to realize that his bed was on the other side. THUD!! Grumbling to himself as he picked himself off the floor, he staggered a few paces, grabbed his jacket, hat, boots, and a bottle of rum, he was fully dressed and accessorized.

"CAPTAIN!!" shouted Gibbs the instant he was out on deck. "We have arrived sir."

"Then we go ashore," he took a swig of the bottle only to find it empty and shouting back up at the man. "Why is the rum always gone?"

Gibbs gave him a quizzical look, raised an eyebrow, then walked to help the crew with the departure of the smaller boats. Jack threw the empty bottle out into the ocean before following the crew. When he practically fell over the railing, he sighed as he straightened his hat.

"That's why."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Jack Sparrow," Tia Dalma looked up from the shells she was examining. "I see that de curse has been broken."

"Tia Dalma," Jack swaggered in a smile splitting across his face, "so good to see you again." When Tia Dalma did not return the smile or even stand up to greet him, Jack's smile slowly began to fade. The crew watched in silence as they felt the silence build the tension in the room until it was so thick that Gibbs actually took out a knife and tried to cut through it. Finally, Jack's smile disappeared as he hung his head, hiding his eyes in his hair as he murmured. "So you know. I really did think I knew you."

"Not so well as I had hoped." Tia Dalma rolled her eyes as she waved a hand beckoning him to sit down. "What is it that you be needing this time?" When Jack didn't answer, Tia Dalma's eyes softened. "Jack Sparrow, is the compass that you bartered from me not working."

Jack shrugged. "Maybe." Tia Dalma took a jar of what appeared to be miscellaneous animal organs and twirled them in her hand.

"Does Jack Sparrow truly still not know what he wants?" Tia Dalma purred, not turning around to Jack. "Does he loathe to claim it as his own?" she asked again, her lip curling up in a devious grin as she twirled the jar around. The crew leaned in closer and closer to see just what she was looking at. BAM!! Tia Dalma slammed the jar down and jumped up so fast that it knocked the crew back, tumbling on top of each other in a heap. Jack looked up wide eyed, the hand that was twirling around with a feather above his head, froze. No one spoke for a very long time. Finally, Jack was the one to break the silence.

"So, what does this have to do with me?" Jack forced a smile only to draw back when Tia Dalma rammed right into his face.

"Does that compass work or does it not Jack Sparrow?" she snarled. "Your heart, your heart, your cursed black heart, does it know what it wants?" She was practically through the roof now, her face turning puce as her voice boomed above and beyond. Jack practically melted in his seat while the rest of the crew cowered into a ball in the far corner of the court. "Realize just what you have done so much, so much pain. De land, de earth, de soul and..." she paused as her head twisted to the side as the same sneer spread across her face from ear to ear, "him heart." Jack was leaning forward into her face now as his kohl rimmed eyes filled with inquisition and a faint glimmer of worry.

"Who's heart?" he whispered. Tia Dalma was twitching rapidly now as she struggled to answer. Suddenly, her head shot up as she loomed over the seated and for once attentive, Jack Sparrow, eye glowering into the depths of his soul.

"William Turner," she spat out then with that, she collapsed in a heap onto the table.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"William Turner," Tia Dalma spat out then collapsed in a heap on the floor. Jack Sparrow sat deathly still as the cabin once more filled with silence. The crew was still huddled in the corner, all wide eyes focused on the back of their Captain who now sat without so much as a muscle spasm. It was Gibbs that decided to make the first move. Slowly, he picked himself off of the floor and took tiptoe steps towards the seat in which the Captain sat.

"Jack?" he asked uneasily. "Jack, are you...savvy?" he finally spat out. Hesitantly, he dropped a hand on the Captain's shoulder only to respond with a yelp he felt a crushing force press down on his wrist. Jack's hand was wound tightly across the length of his wrist. The crew watched in tense silence. Slowly and painfully Captain Jack Sparrow seemed to turn around and face the crew once more, releasing the wrist of Gibbs. The fear in the eyes of the men was clear as day for they did not know just what they would be facing down. The face they saw knocked them all dead with relief.

"Mr. Gibbs," Jack boomed loudly as he stood, resuming the same drunken stagger.

"Aye Captain," Gibbs retreated back to the crew as they watched Jack walk over the Tia Dalma, poke her for a bit, then roll his eyes as he picked her bodily up off the floor and set her down so that she appeared to be sleeping in the nearest seat. What they didn't see is that Jack took the necklace that Will had given her as payment for last time and pocketed it.

"It appears," he turned to them with a huge smile plastered across his features as his eyes were on the one and only compass that knew where to go. "That we have a headin'."

A knowing smile crossed over Gibbs's features as he rapidly nodded his head. "A headin' for you, a change in the wind says I."

Jack held up his hand and signaled to the door. "Take what you can..."

Gibbs game him a fist in the air. "Give nothing back." He then turned back to the now eagerly anticipating crew. "GET ON DECK YOU SCURVY DOGS. SET SAIL!!" While the crew was scrambling back and forth back to the boats, no one noticed that Jack had turned back to where Tia Dalma lay sleeping.

"Pity has nothing to do mate. I will get him back."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"A touch of destiny," a hoarse voice whispered as the crew set off down the river, into the hollow abyss that would soon be the ocean. "Jack Sparrow..." as breeze howled down the banks, "What your heart desires may be beyond claim." A cackling laughter echoed into the ever shrinking world.


	2. A headin'

_"Come on you lacky, wake up," a grimy hand gripped into some matted brown locks as a smacking sounded rang off of the cell walls. "Time to have some fun."_

_"You don't want to make the boss angry again do you?" another grimy hand raised as a thud was heard. "you know what happened last time don't you?" Blank chestnut eyes stared blankly back. Another thud, another smack but still there was no movement from the other figure. The blows rained down thick and hard but there was not so much as even a muscle spasm. Finally, the two captors gave up but only out of sheer annoyance rather than exhaustion._

_"Do you want to drag him up and haul him to the Captain?" One of them hissed to another. _

_"There's no way the boss won't realize that there is no reaction once he looks at the eyes." The other hissed back, smacking the figure that lay prone to them as he gestured at his face._

_"We could blindfold it." The other hissed back ever the more urgently as they heard a slight thumping noise from the deck above them. "The boss will never see them and when he pulls it off, it will look like he just cracked after that fun time."_

_"Good idea," one yellow eye glowered down hungrily at the captive as his hand once more twisted themselves amongst the once beautiful brown locks. "Hand me a cloth." Bodily lifting the captive up, he wound the length of cloth across the blank eyes. Once that was finished, he let the head drop down hard against the wooden deck then hauled the entire being up off the floor. Laughter echoed all around as they haul and tugged the captive up on deck where they will get their entertainment today._

_"Besides," the other hissed sourly as a sickening smile spread across the barnacle covered face. "His chest already belongs to that of a dead man."_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"JACK!!" Gibbs shouted up and down the deck furiously shaking his head when he could not find the amazingly elusive, drunken captain. "JACK!!!" Grabbing the closest deck hand which just so happened to be Anna-Maria, he shouted over the waves asking her if she knew or even saw the Captain today.

"Sorry Mr. Gibbs," she shouted back. "I haven't see or heard from the Captain since we left Tia Dalma's place and he gave us this heading."

"Aye, me neither." Gibbs leaned against the rail as the Pearl turned and began to lean perilously to one side.

"You could go check the Captain's quarters." Anna Maria gave another whirl of the steering wheel in order to balance the boat out as another wave crashed onto the deck. "Maybe he hasn't even woken up yet."

"Will do," Gibbs started off wobbly as the tremors shook the ship but stopped when another call of his name was echoed from Anna Maria. "What is it?"

"When you finally find Jack," She started twirling the steering wheel as the ship began to veer, "Tell him that if I see his face, I will smack the beard off of it."

"Aye, will do." Gibbs let out a chuckle as he began to clamber his way down.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Jack, you in here?" Gently, he creaked the door open and peered into a cabin that looked as littered as Tia Dalma's hut. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the mess it was in now, even messier than normal, as if a small scale hurricane had torn through.

"Mother of Pearl," he whispered as he began to gingerly pick his way through the mess. Books, maps, a sword, and other objects that he had no idea what they were, were thrown far and wide, the sword was thrown into the wall. All the way on the far corner of the cabin where the mattress had been thrown was Jack, hat askew, rum thrown away, and completely out of his wits, laying buried under a pile of old parchment sheets, leather bound books, and what appeared to be shiny white orbs with one hand still stretched out holding the compass. The kohl rimmed eyes of the Captain were closed.

"Jack?" Gibbs gently prodded the shoulder of the sleeping form expecting him to tense and jump awake as he had done so on other numerous occasions of over sleep. This time though, he simply murmured and gestured for the hand to go away. While shifting uncomfortably beneath the pile, a book rolled out and opened right underneath Gibbs. Looking down with curiosity, the man picked up the book, glanced back hesitantly at the still sleeping Captain and began to read. He head shot up rapidly with wide and somewhat frightened eyes when he heard a soft murmur from the Captain.

"Will," Jack lolled then practically choked a half sob noise, "is alive." Gibbs dropped the book with a thud.


	3. Keep to the code

_Darkness, how long had he been in the darkness? At first the dark wasn't that consuming, now it was devouring him. He couldn't see a thing, he couldn't feel anything, he was just floating in the darkness. Voices, he could hear voices, he could hear the blows that were being delivered, yet he was floating peacefully in the darkness. There was no more pain, no more anger, no more resistance. Darkness was his home now. Did he ever know the light? He had been in the darkness for as long as he can remember. Then why won't a face disappear? He could see it though now it was fainter. Kohl rimmed eyes, raving black hair, and a smile with cleverly placed golden teeth. Who was he? Who was he? Why is it that when this face appears, a sense of warmth and security flood over this battered body? _

_"Wake up you dog," a grizzly voice echoed to his peaceful abyss. Suddenly, the darkness was ripped from his eyes and with it, that friendly face. He didn't care when he heard a hard thump onto the deck, knowing in his mind that it was his body. He could care less when he heard a wooden foot thud into his shoulder and kick him to the side so that he was on his back, staring up into the relentless rain. _

_"He's worthless now," came a harsh voice that ground into his eardrums. _

_"Can we kill it now?" another voice snapped, filled with bloodlust. Silence followed. There was a heavy chink and a flash of metal then ever nearing footsteps. He once more heard a thump as his body rolled onto the stomach, his face mashing into the slimy barnacles. _

_"End it," an accented voice began to chortle as the stomping of a wooden leg vanished down into the ship's hull. He didn't hear anything more except for a whish of metal then his vision that was black, flooded with red. There was no pain. He heard the laughter and the thudding of footsteps. The clang of a metal cage door was the last sound. Darkness once again claimed his vision._

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"Have you noticed?" Anna-Maria stated so suddenly that it caused Gibbs to jump slightly and choke on his rum flask.

"Noticed what?" Anna-Maria gave him a roll of the eyes but Gibbs shrugged and used his sleeve to wipe away the dripping rum.

"The Pearl," she sighed as she gave the wheel another twirl. "She's been slowing down ever so slowly."

"Aye," Gibbs nodded. "I can feel it in my bones as well, the unearthly chill." Shivering from head to toe, Gibbs corked his rum cask.

"Ever since Jack hasn't come out...," Anna-Maria started but stopped when Gibbs held out a silencing hand.

"Before that even," Gibbs sat down and placed his elbows onto his knees, turning his head to look at the Captain's quarters, "ever since the loss of young Mr. Turner."

"Aye." They both sighed in union.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

_"Leave him here to rot," A grinding voice laughed. "The mollusks here will have a feast."_

_"Not to mention the rats." A flash of a giant yellow eye with bloodlust showing full force gleamed though the darkness that was the brig. The slamming of a cell door was heard and a loud thump echoed down the hall way. The two laughing captors stomped their way back up on deck and slammed the final door soundly shut. Bloody, torn, and battered beyond recognition, there lay a prone body. Glassy chestnut eyes stared out into nothing. Slowly, they slid shut. There was not even a single sound, not so much as the scurry of rats that followed. _

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Jack!!" Anna-Maria shouted down to the deck. Jack Sparrow walked up to her staring at the compass murmuring to himself without even paying any attention to what was coming right at his face. SLAP!!!

"I may have deserved that," Jack mumbled holding his cheek as he looked innocently up at the female first mate.

"Where are we headed because right now, we have no idea where we are going and the Pearl is slowing down. Meanwhile you have barricaded yourself in your cabin doing who knows what." Anna-Maria slapped him full across the face as Jack once more had his face turned away 180 degrees.

"Actually...," he started and was met in the face with another slap as the first-mate threw Jack onto the wheel, stuff her hat back on, then stormed of the deck.

"Mother of Pearl, Jack," Gibbs smiled, but then dodged hastily to the side when a ticked off Anna-Maria shoved him as he made his way up to the Captain. Pointing a finger back then looking at Jack's red cheek, he laughed as he stumbled to the wheel. "Where we be headed?"

"We don't head anywhere." Jack smiled.

"What do you mean? What has put you in such a good mood Captain, the Pearl's spirit is lifting." Gibbs shivered once more. "I can feel it in my bones."

"We're here." At that, the ocean began to mist over. The entire crew stopped and moved away from their posts, looking in awe and fear at the turn of the weather. "Dim the lights and silence everything." Jack murmured. He then shut the compass and walked over to a swing rope.

"Jack, I see nothing." Gibbs fell silent though when a huge splash was heard and out of the ocean popped the one and only Flying Dutchman. Stopping parallel to the Pearl, the crew now shook in fear as they heard the screams and shouts of the devil himself echoing from the cursed ship.

"It's a fool's errand Jack," Gibbs shook his head in both fear and disbelief.

"All one needs is the proper stealth and a bargaining chip," Jack held up the necklace with the octopus on the end, the same necklace that Will had given Tia Dalma as payment.

"What should we do if the worst should happen?" Gibbs and Anna-Maria now stood watching the Captain with matching looks of disbelief.

"Keep to the code and run you blood lot to hell as fast as the Pearl can go." With that, Jack swung onto the mist cover ship that housed the sea devil in flesh and blood.


	4. DEAD MAN

The Flying Dutchmen is like any other ship ay first glance that has been aged for so long and never cleaned. Once on board though, everything turned rotten. The food, the smell, even the people were all rotten to the point where they are no longer alive, but not dead either. Jack slipped though the hallways, dodging the guard fish and the hammerhead then hiding in the door of the Captain's quarters to dodge the yellow eyes Bosen. He was about to slip away again when he heard Bosen begin to talk to the Hammerhead.

"He's done for," Bosen laughed. Jack froze, all senses focused onto the conversation.

"He was fun. Lifted my mood for the day at least." The Hammerhead cackled back.

"Pity it had to end so soon." Bosen sighed. "I would have liked to have the whip dig into the flesh and watched the life giving blood gush out."

"Now you're just greedy." The hammerhead laughed and the two began to walk off.

"He's still alive." Bosen spoke. "I left him alive because the rats like a feast that's warm."

Jack had to choke down a gag reflex and stepped back further into the shadow. The two laughed for a bit more until the oh ho so recognizable wooden leg stomp, echoed down into the deck that struck fear into even the black hearts of those two.

"Get back to work," the voice echoed. Jack pressed himself so close to the wall that he could have sworn he melted into it. He had also forgotten to breathe when the sea devil himself walked right next to the door he was hiding behind and paused. Whirling around, tentacles flapping, Davy Jones watched with satisfaction as the crew scurried around as the ship ran through the ocean. Then, he slammed the door shut. The two crew whirled back to see if the Captain was gone, shrugged, then went onto their posts. The wall behind the door was blank.

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Footsteps. The echo of footsteps was heard down the hall of the brig. Jack Sparrow wandered carefully, picking his way away from the mollusks and any other person that is sad enough to be part of the ship already. There were no guards at all; actually there was hardly a sound of life down here as well. The darkness was almost suffocating, not to mention the reeking smell of half rotten wood. Still walking, he wondered if what he was searching for was really down here. The compass never lies though and right now it was pointing down the dank corridor. After another 5 minutes, Jack was getting slightly frustrated not to mention annoyed. He was about to throw the compass against the wall when suddenly, the needle twirled to point to the cell right in front of him. Jack looked down at the compass pulling up his upper lip in a satisfactory grimace. Fumbling his hand against the wall, his hand came upon a torch which he quickly lit by striking it against a mollusk then blowing on the smoking wood. He tapped the door and found it swinging open. The stillness in the cell was strangling as Jack had to cover his nose when he looked onto the floor and saw the rivers of blood, some dry and some freshly wet, that dribbled down the wooden planks. Lifting up is torch, he was met with the closed eyes of the one and only Will Turner. Quickly finding a dock for the torch in the cell, he knelt down and gently tapped the body. It was still warm.

A shirt that practically blended in with the dirty boat and pants that were barely together adorned the boy. Gingerly, Jack set a hand onto the small of the boy's back only to draw back with disgust and horror as he choked seeing his hand was now coated with red. The back was exposed though there was hardly any skin to be left bare. It was mess of whip lashes, sword cuts, and burn marks along with a few bullet holes. Some of them were fresh while others were now deep scars. A few of the larger ones were infected, turning the once pale skin to an ugly red and green color. Suddenly, the body beneath him stirred and gazing at him now was a pair of half open, hazy chestnut eyes.

"Will?" Jack bent down close to the boy, putting his face inches from the other's. When there was no response, Jack began to worry. "Will can you hear me?" The eyes gazed back at him, empty and hazed, but there was still no response. "Can you hear me Will?"

"Jack." It was barely a soft murmur but Jack heard it. He placed his hand on the boy's back, careful not to disturb any of the wounds and gently, began to lift him up off the floor into a sitting position. As he was doing so, the chest of the boy caught gleam of the light and a sharp flash of metal gleamed into Jack's eyes. There was a rough, jagged dagger protruding from Will, right underneath his collar bone, blood coating down the front of the shirt.

"We're going to get you out of here, savvy." Jack choked. There was no response as the blank eyes stared back at him, registering nothing. There was not a sign of movement besides the small steady rasps of breath from Will that told him the whelp was even alive. Ever the more slowly, Jack lifted the boy off the floor and onto his back making sure that the dagger was not shoved in any deeper and that it rested undisturbed on his shoulder.

"Jack," the soft murmur came again causing Jack to stop for a moment as he turned his head sideways to see the face of the blacksmith turned pirate.

"It's alright mate, were getting our carbuncles out of here and back to the Pearl and your bonnie lass." Jack made his way from the brig up on deck, not paying attention to whether he was hidden or not.

"Are you now?" came an accented voice.

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"Are you now?" came an accented voice causing Jack to choke and freeze in his mid lizard sneak off the Dutchman.

"Oh bugger," Jack turned around to come face to face with the one and only Davy Jones and his crew of miscreants.

"Looky here boys. A lost bird...a lost bird that never learned to fly." Jones roared with laughter as a twisted grin spread across his face.

"To my great regret." Jack bowed slightly. "So if you'll excuse me." He was stopped once again by the hiss of that accursed hammerhead shark.

"Sparrow," Jones snapped. "You still have a debt to settle." Laughing uproarisly the crew of the Flying Dutchmen began to close in on the Captain.

"Bugger." Jack whispered again then turned to face Jones in the eye, smiling his normal drunken smile. "Well I don't intend on paying that today so I really must be going."

"And where would you be planning on going carrying your payment for the debt of turning you back into a man?" Jones snapped. "He belongs to us now."

Jack froze when he felt the grip on his shirt tighten by the slightest degree. He looked at Will through the corner of his eye and saw that the eyes were still open but there was a hint of desperation in the now knitted eyebrows. He sighed and dug into his pocket. The crew watched in silence then a huge gasp came when they saw the trinket. Jack smiled with satisfaction when he saw the torn face of Davy Jones.

"Where, where did you get that?" The sea devil choked.

"Not part of your business savvy." Jack smiled. "You let us go and free me from my debt and I give you this," Jack wobbled around to get a good look at the thing, "this thingamabober. Do we have an accord?" Jack pocketed the trinket, smiling his regular smile, he stuck out his hand. On the outside, he was the same old, same old drunken half caring Jack Sparrow but on the inside when he stuck out his hand, he couldn't have been less together than what the trinket would be when he dropped it on the floor for at that moment, he felt Will grip onto his shirt for dear life then stopped breathing. Davy Jones however, still had his eyes on Jack's pocket where the necklace lay.

"We have an accord." Jones snapped and whipped out his tentacled hand, snaking its way around Jack's. Whirling back, the necklace was held in one of his beard tentacle while a grin of malice adorned his face. Jack stood there frozen, his gears turning so fast now that he was afraid that his head would explode as he watched the crew slowly close in cutting him off from the exits.

"Again Sparrow, you never learned to fly-ya," Jones drew his sword as he finished his sentence. Jack watched as the necklace disappeared underneath the beard of tentacles as Jones's goons closed the circle for escape even tighter.

Suddenly, he saw a light glimmer 3 times in 2 beat successions and he realized that there was still escape.

"But," Jack looked back at Will through the corner of his eyes and smiled that wicked, drunkard smile back at Jones. "It's never too late to learn eh?"

The sound of cannon fire rolled out from the fog and the deck beneath them collapsed just as Jack had time to jump onto the mast rope as the force from the blast flung the captain and Will across the water as the sail billowed upwards and catch onto another rope that was thrown out to them from the familiar lights of the Black Pearl. Landing with a hardy thump on the deck of the boat, Gibbs and Anna-Maria stood over the two newly arrived passengers and helped them up.

"I thought you were supposed to keep to the code." Jack sighed checking on Will with a sigh of relief when he felt the boy start breathing again. Gibbs and Anna-Maria smiled then placed a hand on each of Will's shoulders and began to gently peel him off of Jack.

"Careful," Jack gingerly lifted Will of off his shoulders wincing a bit from where his weight had left a few bruises and pushed into old bullet wounds. Laying him gracefully in Jack's arms, careful not to disturb the dagger, they made their way back to Captain's cabin. Now in the full light, they could see the full damage done.

"Slap me thrice and hand me to me muma, what in the bloody blazes happened to him?" Gibbs blinked, wide eyed with horror as Anna-Maria gingerly removed the filthy tunic.

"I'll keep the crew busy," Anna-Maria stuttered in an indifferent voice and tugging on Gibbs's sleeve, they left. Jack was simply frozen with horror as he stared at what had lain underneath the translucent tattered shirt. Branded across the once well defined chest of William Turner in twisted letters was:

DEAD MAN


	5. Sleeping in a Cage

**Wow, I can't believe it's been two years since I've touched this story. Time sure flies the instant you hit high school. Along with imagination to boot. lol. Well anyways, for those readers who are still interested, here you go. I'm sorry and I plan on updating this story more often and finishing it this year. A girl can always dream right.**

**Inumaru**

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"Captain!" shouted Bosen as he whirled around to face Jones. "Do we pursue?" Jones however, simply smiled full of malice and evil intent as he twirled the necklace around one tentacle as he stared at the stern of Pearl disappearing into the mist.

"Leave them be." he laughed.

"Sir," the hammerhead opened his mouth to protest only to shut it with a snap when the Captain's glare whirled on him.

"Besides, we'll let reality rip Jack apart." Jones cackled as he stomped his way back to the cabin. "Mr. Turner belongs to the Dutchman now."

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Dead Man was branded in bold, twisted letters that look like hell across Will's chest. Black was tainting the edges while the center flesh looked too red to be real. Jack had remembered the nature of his own brand but that was just tea and biscuits compared to the one that sent his stomach hurtling now. The whiplashes on him back looked like rotten meat, the brand like the devil's pool of flesh, the dagger coated blood down the front of his collarbone missing his heart by inches. The blood looks like dried ink on 4 years old parchment, cracked, flaking, and peeling.

"Jack?" a murmur barely above that of a whisper floated into the air but drove into the Captain's guts like six steel bars. Blank chestnut eyes stared into the shocked kohl rimmed eyes of Jack as Will Turner turned his head ever so slightly. "Jack," he murmured again.

Captain Jack Sparrow was for once, without a single word to say. Instead, he simply uncorked a bottle of rum, took a swig, then without warning, poured the entire rest of it onto the brand. Will didn't so much as blink, simply staring blankly up at the ceiling even as the hiss of alcohol ate away at the dead flesh. Grimacing himself, Jack grabbed a clothe that was more than unsanitary but was the best that a pirate had and wiped away the rum looking with some satisfaction as the brand's black edges were now a duller brown and the red center was more of pink.

"Pirate," Will breathed startling Jack for a moment as his eyelids slid shut and breathing evened out. A small smile tugged on the lips of the Captain as he covered the blacksmith with a blanket and stepped back out on deck into the dripping clean moonlight. Leaning over the edge, he simply stared into the ocean swallowing the waves of nausea that racked his form with shudders. A gently hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his trance as he turned to face his first mate Anna-Maria.

"Where are we headed Captain?" she said all too tenderly causing Jack's eyebrow to crawl up the length of his forehead. A hard slap snapped his back chuckling softly while rubbing his cheek.

"I may have deserved that darling." The Peal creaked with amusement beneath him and sped up at the eagerness of making port for repairs. "Chart a course to Port Royale and make it fast."

"Aye Captain." she shouted and jumped up to the helm. "CHART A COURSE TO PORT ROYALE!"

Jack sighed as he began to bark orders to the crew as they prepared to make their journey. 'This is going to take all night,' ran through the frustrated Captain's mind as he shouted up to Mardy to trim the topsail.

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It was about a quarter till ten basing on the position of the sun and how much calmer the sun's rays were beating down upon the exhausted crew. Their path was set for Tortuga where they will be spending the next two to three days, not that anyone had any complaints now that they could finally be able to spend all the wealth for rum and whores. Even Captain Jack Sparrow was showing his rare exhaustion.

"Finally," Jack sighed, rubbing his sore cheek from about the 10 slaps he had gotten from Anna-Maria throughout the day. One for staring off into space and almost ramming them into a cliff with his directions and yet another one was just for standing on deck. 'Who knows anymore,' Jack shrugged to himself then a small smile split his lips as another thought passed through his mind. 'Let's go check on the whelp then get meself a bottle of rum and nice nap without slaps from a first-mate.' Swinging the door open with the perfect drunk smile he sauntered into the cabin.

"Oi whelp, how's the nap?" The bed was empty. Panic flashed through the dark brown eyes as they looked rapidly around, sweeping the surroundings. He hadn't seen the whelp leave all day. In fact, he hadn't seen the slightest twitch of the door since he had closed it with him sleeping peacefully in the bed. "Not this late at night." Jack groaned. He was going to need some major alcohol to boot tonight. Sneaking like a snake around the crew's quarters making sure not to disturb them, Captain Jack Sparrow searched the ship from top to bottom, getting hit in the face with a door as Anna-Maria popped a lazy head out to use the Lou.

"Damn it," he sighed as he twisted his nose back into shape from the collision. He was getting irritated and not at all in the good way being short on rum and really wanted to get some sleep. On top of it all, there was still no sign of the whelp of a eunuch who just knew how to get his filthy arse into the worst types of trouble. 'This is so bloody annoying,' snarled the captain, slamming his fist into the wooden hull of the Pearl earning a protestant groan back. Sighing, he rubbed the wood murmuring that there was nothing for her to worry about for she had done nothing wrong. The Pearl doesn't deserve to be treated like that out of his anger. She was the symbol for his freedom on these high seas. Sighing again, he sank against the gently rocking surface that needs repairs soon after all it's endurance against the wrath of Calypso. Where the hell is that whelp? He had searched everywhere from the crew's quarters to the storage to all the way out on deck, and there was still no sign of him. Suddenly the thought hit him like an iron cinderblock as he scrambled to his feet, grabbing at his hat to keep it from falling off in the process.

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The brig wasn't much of a brig anymore. It was more of a storage place for anything other than animals and rum which means it was a mass of junk and trash with a small cage in the middle of it all which was normally left unlocked in case someone needed some alone time. Jack picked himself around all the clutter, tripping and ramming his head against what appeared to be gunpowder kegs along with some other miscellaneous items, making his way into the center cage. In it, curled into a ball, covered lightly by the missing blanket, was a sound asleep William Turner. Sighing with both annoyance and relief Jack felt his muscles uncoil as he wedged himself into the small barred off space. He could see the flash of metal gleaming in the moonlight indicated that the dagger was still there and the red liquid that had made puddles underneath the slight figure meant that the wound had reopened and bled freely for a while.

"Will?" he prodded the shoulder, gingerly shaking the boy a bit, curling his upper lip back with unease. Blank, glazed, sleep laden eyes stared back into his as the body shifted to the slightest degree.

"Jack," the same soft murmur reached his ears. "What are you doing here?" If it hadn't been for the current severity of the situation, Jack would have laughed. All he managed to do was force a tight smile.

"Whadda'ya mean what am I doing here whelp?" Jack snorted. He was about to continue when Will groaned and shifted his head up to get a better view of the captain.

"You look like you haven't had rum in the last 5 minutes and were planning on killing the entire crew." His voice was barely above a whisper now but his eyes were blanker than ever, watching the looming, swaying figure.

Jack couldn't help feeling a vein pop as he bent over to try and get the boy to sit up and out of his own pool of blood. Apparently the Pearl had better ideas. Just as he was leaning over, a wave rocked the side causing the entire vessel to jerk to the left. Jack tumbled onto Will, careful to put his hand up just in time to avoid the dagger however, the physical injuries were not the worries. Will screamed.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!!" The boy kicked out, managing to land a hard kick into the pirate's abdomen, winding him or a good bit then crawling away. The Pearl gave another jerk to the opposite end and this time, Will tumbled towards Jack and as Jack reached to grab the boy, his hand caught the dagger and with another jerk, the blade came loose. The tan face was sprayed with red as Will let out a airless gasp and collapsed on the floor, the red life pooling around him as his brown eyes once more slid closed.

Jack bolted to life, throwing the dagger down and rolling the prone man onto his back and applying pressure to the wound so as to stifle the fountain of blood.

"Bugger, Bugger, Bugger, Bugger," Jack hissed through his teeth, swallowing harshly in order to keep the bile back that was boiling in his throat when he felt the cloth become wetter and wetter. Soon, the blood was pooling around his tan fingers, staining them maroon over and over again.

'Why won't this bloody piece of shit stop bleedin'' ran through Jack's mind as he desperately applied more pressure.

After what felt like an eternity, the blood finally ceased to a trickle. Sighing a giant breath of relief, he sat back onto his haunches to examine the boy and to get his own blood to come flooding back into his arms. Will was now very pale, his lips a slight shade of blue, breathing short and shallow, the thin chest rising, the blood that was just spilled drying, emphasizing the brand to the degree where it was as fresh as it had been before he's been given a rum bath.

"Will?" Jack placed two fingers on the boy's neck, closing his eyes in silent joy when he found a pulse, fairly weak but sturdy enough to mean the boy would survive the extraction. He would just he fairly light headed for a good week, then in agony for the next 3 months till all the stitches and bandages came out and off.

"You're on hell of a trouble maker aren't cha whelp," Jack chuckled then yawned. Tonight had definitely been a long one considering one, there was no rum, and two, he's just been tossed around like a rag doll by his own ship no doubt, and then spent more than a minute trying to stop blood from oozing out of the boy's collar. He didn't feel like moving anymore right now and especially if he had to carry the boy up with him. There was a higher risk of him dropping the lad before making up the first step than there was of him dying from rum overdose.

"Damn am I going to be sore in the morning." Jack sighed as he gingerly tore off his jack and his shirt, ripping the slices apart with his teeth to make bandages as he gingerly wrapped the now slowly oozing wound. Will stirred to the slightest, turning his head towards the direction of the hand of comfort, murmuring something about 5 more minutes then dozed off again. Jack Sparrow was purple because of the red mixing in with the tan as his hands froze where they had just been nuzzled by the boy's cheek.

"Now you've gone and gotten all heated up," Jack mumbled, pulling at the bandaged a bit harder to vent his frustration till he saw that the face in front of his was now furrowed with pain, before he tied the knot and leaned back against one of the abandoned crates. "I really need more rum right now."

The pearl tilted once more, rolling the two beings together, Will's head landing on the blushing, no not blushed, heated, yes heated, Jack Sparrow's lap while Jack toppled forward and wrapped his arms around the slowly rising and falling chest. Feeling two lazy to remove himself from the embrace, Jack tilted his hat down over his face and fell asleep.


End file.
